Die Stuckdecke des oecus tetrastylus aus dem sog. Augustushaus auf dem Palatin im Kontext antiker Deckenverzierungen

This study is based on 4.340 stucco fragments of an antique ceiling which were found in the 1970s during G. Carettoni’s excavation in the oecus tetrastylus at the western peristyle of the so-called House of Augustus on the Palatine Hill in Rome. They were photographed and drawn in 2009. Given the presently inadequate state of publication and the much debated identification and dating of the building, the volume limits itself to both preliminary work for a future overall evaluation of the entire luxurious room setup and a cultural historical appreciation of the fragments in the context of antique ceilings in general on the basis of evidence from 440 pre-Augustan ceilings, 199 written sources, some inscriptions and papyri as well as selected pictorial source material [paintings, coins etc.]. The investigated ceiling consisted of a suspended vault resting on four supports and decorated with two complicated central motifs surrounded by square panels, while the flat ceilings of the side aisles possessed plain panels. The stucco was surprisingly varied in composition, painted white, and covered with a glossy film. It was probably executed in the 2nd third of the 1st century B. C.